A Glimmer of Hope
by Crazy Packers Fan
Summary: Glimmer - not Katniss or Peeta - wins the 74th Hunger Games. This is how it happens. Cato/Glimmer aka Glato.
1. The Hunt

**A Glimmer of Hope**

_(A/N: Obviously not canon, but there are some similarities to the movie, with a twist. Suzanne Collins owns all characters, plot devices, and my wallet.)_

Chapter 1

The Hunt

The gong went off, and within seconds the bloodbath began. Out of the corner of her eye Glimmer could see Cato beating the boy from 6 to death, as he had promised to at the Training Center. She went right for the bow, grabbing it and a backpack and rushing away from the Cornucopia. She knew that the other Careers would do the dirty work for her, and she waited to meet them on the edge of the woods. It was an unusual tack for a Career – to let the others get the kills while she escaped. Certainly she wanted a kill herself. But if it was safer…

Clove killed one tribute with a knife and sent another knife flying at the girl from 12, Katniss. But Katniss used her backpack to catch the knife and avoid certain death. As she watched the boy from 11, Thresh, completely destroy another tribute, she grabbed supplies for herself before escaping.

Within minutes all the Careers had met up with each other. They made their alliance in the Training Center, casually dropping hints as to where they would meet up. Glimmer had flirted with Cato with her eyes several times in the Training Center, and she noticed that her charm had worked: Cato was already standing right by her side, rather than Clove's.

"How many are dead?" Clove asked, as they started to walk into the woods.

"Should be about a half-dozen or so, maybe a couple more," Marvel replied. "It's too bad most of them don't even want to fight, they just want to get away."

"I'm pretty upset that you got to do all the killing," Glimmer complained.

"Oh, you'll get your chance," Cato stated. "We get an easy target, I'll let you have the fun."

He showed her a large knife that he had gathered.

"I almost got the girl from 12," Clove added. "You know the one who got an 11? She got lucky to escape."

"How is it even possible to get an 11?" Cato wondered. "If I couldn't get one, how could someone from 12 get one?"

"Speaking of 12…" Glimmer remarked, pointing over to the left.

The Careers all saw an easy target – the boy from 12, Peeta. He was running through the woods about 15 yards away.

"Go ahead, shoot him," Cato told Glimmer.

"Wait a minute!" Glimmer replied. "I think he could be useful – in finding his girlfriend."

"Good thinking," Clove stated, before turning toward Peeta.

"Hey, Lover Boy!" she shouted. "Come over here, we won't hurt you!"

Peeta stopped to see the Careers, nearly panicking when he saw them.

"You're as good as dead if you try to escape, so why not just join us?" Clove added.

Peeta then shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the Careers.

"We figure you could be of some great help to us," Cato told him.

"In what?" Peeta replied. "I thought you guys were all laughing at me at the Training Center."

"Hey, you've got some skills," Glimmer stated. "But we especially think you can help us find your girlfriend."

Peeta paused, thinking about the situation. Surely he couldn't betray Katniss, but this was quite an opportunity for him, to have the Careers on his side, at least for a little while.

"Sure," he replied. "I know her pretty well, I can help find her traps."

Nightfall came, and the Careers made their camp, along with Peeta. As they lay there, Glimmer cuddled closely to Cato, who looked greatly pleased.

"How many did you get at the Cornucopia?" she whispered to him.

"Four," he replied in a whisper. "That boy from 6 who stole my knife – he was first to go. I can't even remember the other ones who got in my way – they were dead too quickly for me to see their numbers."

"Here's a secret," Glimmer told him in another whisper. "I feel safer with you than with Marvel."

Cato smiled. "Don't worry, it'll be you and I to the end."

"You mean you don't feel any closeness to Clove?"

"She's too young for me. Plus, she doesn't have as much to offer."

He reached over and touched Glimmer's face.

"Not as much as you."

The Careers were up early, looking for someone to kill. When they smelled smoke, they were immediately excited.

"Is there someone really that stupid?" Marvel wondered.

"Maybe it's your girlfriend!" Clove exclaimed to Peeta.

Peeta shook his head.

"It's not Katniss," he replied. "She and I were coached very well not to make a fire."

As they ran in the direction of the smoke, they noticed a trap that had been used to catch a small animal. Peeta looked shocked.

"This is one of Katniss' traps," he stated. "Maybe it _is _her."

Cato smiled, as they kept on going toward the smoke. Eventually they came up to the fire, seeing the girl from 8 huddled there next to a fire, trying to keep warm.

The Careers didn't need to say anything. They simply smiled and crossed their arms. Save for Cato, who handed a large knife over to Glimmer, as a signal that he'd let her get the kill.

An ear-piercing scream came out of the girl's mouth as she died. Instantly a cannon went off, signaling her death. The Careers could do nothing but laugh.

Meanwhile, they continued along their path, and Cato began to get frustrated as they could not find Katniss anywhere.

"You sure she went this way, Lover Boy?"

"Yeah, that was her trap back there."

They continued to walk through the woods. Cato leaned over closely to Glimmer.

"Why don't we just kill him now and get it over with?" he asked her.

"Let him tag along. What's the harm?" she replied.

"I just think it's going to backfire on us if we don't do it now," he remarked.

They kept on going, right past the tree where Katniss silently hid.

A day went by, with the Careers finding no sign of Katniss. However, they were able to kill a couple of other tributes along the way. Glimmer easily hunted down one of them with her bow, another one Cato stabbed to death. And as the deaths piled up, the relationship between Cato and Glimmer became more noticeable; Clove began to pick up on the fact that Cato was very impressed with Glimmer, and she began to get jealous.

But she said nothing. Why anger Cato and have him kill her? Certainly Marvel wouldn't defend her. So in her way of retaliation, she began clinging to Marvel. Cato showed no jealousy, however.

They continued walking through the forest, when they noticed someone in particular – Katniss.

The chase began. The Careers, along with a trailing Peeta, began laughing like the children they were as they followed after Katniss through the woods. Katniss quickly climbed a tree, trying to escape.

The Careers reached the bottom of Katniss's tree, and Cato got ready to climb.

"I'm coming for you," he exclaimed, as he began to climb the tree.

Katniss climbed higher and higher into the tree, with Cato following behind. However, at one point, Cato grabbed a branch which snapped, sending him plummeting to the ground.

Glimmer instantly became angry when she saw that Cato had possibly hurt himself trying to kill Katniss. So she shot an arrow toward Katniss. The girl from 12 gasped as she watched the arrow barely miss her.

Undaunted, Glimmer grabbed another arrow and shot it toward Katniss. This one missed as well, coming even closer to hitting her. Katniss breathed heavily as she saw her life flash before her eyes.

The Careers were a bit frustrated at this point, and Katniss noticed this as she looked down at them.

"Why don't you throw the sword?" she taunted them.

This angered Cato even more, but Peeta found a way to calm him.

"Why don't we just wait her out?" Peeta suggested. "She's got to come down some time, either that or starve to death."

Cato looked over at the other Careers, realizing the logic in Peeta's thinking.

"All right," he stated. "Someone make a fire."

The Careers lay there sleeping, with Clove holding on to her knife as she did. Glimmer and Cato cuddled together, keeping each other warm while enjoying each other's company. Meanwhile, Katniss noticed Rue in a nearby tree, and Rue silently suggested for her to cut down a nest of tracker jackers. Katniss obeyed her suggestion, and she climbed over, trying to cut it down.

As Katniss began cutting down the nest, she imagined what could happen. Perhaps the tracker jackers would kill one of the Careers lying below – maybe the one closest to them, Glimmer. And then the others would have to escape, and she would be free to go.

But that didn't happen. Her feet slipped, and she came crashing all the way to the ground. She looked up, hoping in vain that the sound did not wake up the Careers.

"Well, hello," Cato said as he stood above her, brandishing his sword. "Better get a cannon ready."


	2. The Trap

Chapter 2

The Trap

Cato pulled back his sword, ready to slash Katniss and end her life. But as he did, Peeta dived from behind him and tackled him to the ground. Cato's sword barely missed Katniss's arm as he crashed down next to her. Before Peeta had a chance to attack Cato, the Career slashed his leg with the sword.

"Peeta!" Katniss cried out.

"What are you doing?" Peeta yelled back at her. "Get out of here! Go!"

Katniss scrambled away, but the other Careers were awake by now, and they all prepared to attack her. Clove fruitlessly threw a knife in Katniss's direction, missing badly. Glimmer shot an arrow at her, but a tree blocked it from making it to Katniss. Marvel, meanwhile, went all-out, chasing after Katniss on his own.

"No, don't go!" Clove shouted at him. "You're in danger on your own!"

Marvel slightly shrugged his head as he kept his chase after Katniss. Clove decided to follow after him, leaving Glimmer with Cato and Peeta.

"So you think you can just attack me?" Cato screamed at Peeta, ready to slash him again. "You can pretend to be our ally, then turn on me?"

Peeta wiggled in vain, trying to escape Cato, who had him pinned down to the ground.

"Katniss…" Peeta cried out desperately.

"This is it! You die now!"

Cato slashed Peeta's throat, causing blood to spill all over. Glimmer looked on with glee.

"That's what he gets for turning on us," Cato told Glimmer.

The cannon fired, signaling Peeta's death. Katniss recognized this and immediately felt guilty for allowing Peeta to sacrifice herself for her. Yet she had no time to worry about him; she had Marvel and Clove hot on her heels.

"Get her! Get her!" Clove shouted as she chased Marvel through the woods.

Suddenly the two Careers were interrupted by another tribute crossing their path. As Clove and Marvel turned to attack him, Katniss snuck away, deep into the forest.

"You're too easy," Marvel sneered as he ended the tribute's life. Clove was only somewhat happy with the kill; she was more upset about Katniss again escaping her.

"What about Marvel and Clove?" Glimmer asked, as she and Cato walked through the forest.

"They'll know to meet us by the lake, once we've racked up all our supplies," Cato replied.

He then looked at Glimmer with a bit of lust.

"Forget about them. They're only tools to help us make it farther to the end. It's you and me."

He leaned in to kiss her on the lips, but just as they kissed, a cannon went off.

"We'll continue that later," Glimmer told him.

They rushed off toward the lake, hand in hand.

Hours passed, and eventually Marvel and Clove met up with Cato and Glimmer at the lake, where the latter two had gathered a pile of supplies.

"Looks like we've been doing all the work," Clove complained as she and Marvel walked into their camp. "Marvel and I killed off four tributes since we left you."

"So the girl from 12 is dead?" Cato wondered.

"No, she escaped," Marvel replied.

"That's going to come back to haunt us," Glimmer stated. "One way or another, she's going to cause us trouble."

Clove gave Glimmer an angry look, but said nothing.

"Let's not worry about that for right now," Cato said. "We need to find a way to protect these supplies."

As he said this, they all noticed a boy running through the edge of the woods.

"Let's get him," Marvel stated.

Marvel and Clove immediately ran over towards the boy, who did not notice them at first. By the time he saw that he was in danger, he had no time to escape. However, Glimmer and Cato were quite surprised to see Marvel and Clove seemingly working out some sort of bargain with the boy.

"What are they doing?" Cato wondered to Glimmer.

"I don't know," Glimmer replied. "They should just kill him!"

A few minutes later, they were even more surprised to see Marvel and Clove bringing the boy back with them.

"Now what is this?" Cato demanded.

"This is the boy from 3," Marvel replied. "He says he can help us."

Cato and Glimmer were not without their qualms, but after a few hours, the boy from 3 had managed to dig up all the mines from around the starting area and reset them around the pile of supplies. This meant that absolutely no one had a chance at stealing them.

…or almost no one. Because as the four Careers slept that night, the girl from 5, a sly fox of a tribute, found her way through the mines and stole some food and water out of the pile of supplies. Using only the moonlight, the red-haired girl tiptoed her way out of the area without setting off a single mine.

The next morning, Cato was certain something was missing from the pile of supplies, but the others ensured him that it was just his imagination.

Another day passed by, with only a couple cannons blasting during the course of the 24 hours. The Careers looked up to see which tributes had managed to die during this day – not between the two was Katniss, and Cato cursed under his breath.

And as the anthem played, there went the fox-like girl again, stealing more food off the Careers' stockpile. She was so quick that no one noticed her nor even heard her as she bolted off with more supplies.

So in the morning, Cato was absolutely sure someone had been stealing things from the Careers, and he was ready to do something about it. Only hours later, they all noticed a fire coming from the woods.

"Perfect," Marvel exclaimed. "Another sitting duck."

They decided to leave the boy from 3 in charge of the supplies, despite Cato's concerns. Glimmer managed to talk Cato into letting him stay alone, and since her presence calmed him, Cato obliged.

They headed off into the woods where they saw a second fire.

"This is some sort of trap," Glimmer called to the others. "Someone's baiting us out here."

"Would you please shut up?" Clove snarked back.

When a third fire was set, Glimmer's suspicions were confirmed.

"Let's go back," she called. "There's a couple people working to trick us."

"Who?" Clove remarked. "We know that Lover Boy is dead. So it couldn't be him and -"

**BOOM!**

Immediately the Careers recognized the direction of the explosion. It had come from their camp. Glimmer, Cato and Clove turned around to head back to camp, but Marvel decided to keep on hunting for the culprit of the fires.

As Glimmer and Cato returned to the camp, they saw that all of their supplies had been blown up in a giant explosion. Cato immediately blamed the boy from 3.

"So, that was all a trap, so you could blow up our stuff?" Cato yelled, cursing loudly at the boy.

"No!" he cried out.

It was too late for him, however. Cato grabbed him by the throat and killed him with sheer brute force.

"Do you think he was working with the girl from 12?" Glimmer wondered.

"Very possible," Cato replied.

"I want to kill that girl myself," Clove remarked. "Marvel better leave her for me!"

"Katniss! Katniss!" a small girl's cry went through the forest.

Katniss came running in the direction of the cries, until she finally saw her ally Rue tangled up in a net. She had fallen into a trap.

"Rue!" she cried out. "Rue!"

Katniss cut the net open, freeing Rue from the trap.

"You're okay," she told Rue. "You're okay. It's going to be okay."

Suddenly Rue's eyes grew wide open as she saw someone in the distance with a spear.

"What is it?" Katniss wondered.

Katniss immediately turned around to fire her bow toward the enemy. She nailed Marvel right in the heart, killing him instantly.

However, it was too late. Marvel had thrown its spear, and it had hit its target.

Only that it was not Rue who the spear hit. No, it was Katniss, who found the spear lodged in her chest, as she collapsed to the ground.


	3. The Battle

Chapter 3

The Battle

Rue began crying as she saw Katniss dying in front of her.

"I'll be okay," Katniss told her. "It's okay."

"No, it's not," Rue cried.

"Rue, you better go save yourself," Katniss added.

"I won't go," Rue replied. "I won't leave you."

The minutes went by, and as the cannon fired, Rue was left to herself, crying alone in the woods. Then, at one point, she looked up, only to see Cato, Clove and Glimmer standing over her.

"Looks like the girl on fire has finally burned up," Glimmer remarked.

"And now, time for this one too," Clove added.

Clove killed Rue instantly with a knife through her forehead. The cannon fired for Rue, and the Careers walked over to find the dead Marvel.

"There's a reason he only got a 9," Clove commented. "Not quick enough – he allowed Katniss to get a shot in."

Clove felt only a bit of remorse over Marvel's death, instead now focusing her full attention on Cato. Glimmer walked ahead for a moment to check out if there were any others around, giving Clove her opportunity to talk to Cato alone.

"So, Cato," she cooed, cuddling up to his side, "there's just the two of us from 2 remaining. Should we kill her now?"

Cato was startled by her idea. "No!" he shouted, getting Glimmer's immediate attention. "No, that's not going to work."

"What is it?" Glimmer asked, as she came over.

"Oh, nothing," an angry Clove snarked back to Glimmer.

Another day went by, and cannons continued to fire. The Careers calculated that there had to be only five remaining – themselves, the boy from 11, and one other person who they couldn't place. So they marched down to the Cornucopia, hoping to find some more supplies. Much to their delight, they found Thresh grabbing some food that had apparently been placed there.

"Let's get him!" Clove exclaimed, as the three raced down the hill toward Thresh.

Clove ran ahead, while Glimmer and Cato followed closely behind. Clove threw one of her knives at Thresh, which he successfully dodged. He then pulled out a sickle and prepared to slash Clove with it, but she rolled away from his attack.

"It's three-on-one," Glimmer told Thresh. "You'd better think of something good."

Thresh looked around at his three opponents, now all standing an equal distance away from him, surrounding his every escape.

"Which of you killed Rue?" he yelled.

He received no response, however, except for the smiles on all three of the Careers' faces.

"You're not all making out alive, you know?" he shouted.

He looked carefully at each girl's face, noticing that they were looking to Cato for the go-ahead. So he figured his best bet was to attack the boy they both trusted.

"You're mine!" he screamed, as he launched himself toward Cato.

Cato and Thresh got into a huge battle, slashing swords back and forth. Glimmer and Clove instantly raced to Cato's rescue, each of them trying to attack Thresh, but each having a hard time getting a hit on him. Clove was too afraid to throw a knife in fear that she may accidentally hit Cato; Glimmer similarly was too afraid to shoot an arrow because she did not want to hit Cato.

The girls looked each other in the eye, and both recognized the same fact; they were both in love with Cato. And that meant one or the other had to die.

Thresh and Cqto continued battling, swinging their weapons at each other while rolling on the ground. Clove saw her opportunity and threw a knife toward Glimmer, who dodged it. Glimmer then took her bow and shot an arrow towards Clove. This missed as well.

"You want Cato?" Clove shouted. "Well, he's mine! We came from the same district!"

"Cato chose me!" Glimmer replied. "That's all that matters!"

"Only one of us survives anyway," Clove remarked. "It might as well be me!"

She threw another knife toward Glimmer, this one catching her on the shoulder. As blood spilled out, Glimmer winced in pain, but knew she could not stop battling. She tried getting a good aim, then shot her bow at Clove, but the arrow shot over her shoulder.

"You're not going to hit me with that!" Clove yelled.

She threw another knife, this one catching Glimmer in the other shoulder. She was frustrated that her skills were not completely paying off for her; now she had only one knife remaining. Glimmer still had three arrows left.

"You're running out of weapons!" Glimmer taunted. "Come on, hit me with your best shot!"

Clove decided to hold on to her last knife, rather than run away. Glimmer knew she could not get too close because Clove would easily kill her if she inched even closer. So she stepped back a bit and fired an arrow, this one singeing Clove's ear, taking off a bit of flesh from it.

"That was nothing!" Clove shouted. "Go on, shoot again!"

Glimmer became a bit angry and fired her second-to-last arrow. Her shot was off by quite a bit, and it did not come close to hitting Clove.

"One more," Clove stated. "Shall we?"

Clove held out her knife in her hand, then motioned for Glimmer to shoot her final arrow.

"The best shot wins!" she shouted.

"Fine!" Glimmer replied.

So both sent their weapons flying at the same time. Clove's knife flew toward Glimmer's face, while Glimmer's arrow continued toward Clove's head.

And neither hit its target.

Suddenly, a cannon fired, and both girls immediately rushed over to Cato's aid. Neither even considered the idea that Thresh was the one who survived. Fortunately for the two of them, they were both right; Thresh had died, but Cato was bleeding badly all over his body. They stood over him, trying to see if they could help him.

"I'm going to die for sure," Cato stated.

"Don't say that, Cato," Glimmer replied. "I'm sure we can get you a parachute!"

"One of you has to help me," Cato continued.

"What do you mean, one of us?" Glimmer responded. "We're both out of weapons. We can't kill each other. We're here to help you now."

"I can kill her later, Cato," Clove added. "What type of medicine do you need?"

"None will work at this time," Cato stated. "All I want… is…"

He breathed heavily as he tried to speak.

"All I want is…"

Suddenly, with all his strength, he grabbed his sword and slashed Clove in her knees, sending her collapsing to the ground.

"All I want is you, Glimmer."

Glimmer gave Cato a huge smile, and she bent over him to kiss him on the lips. The two of them enjoyed a long kiss, before Cato began gasping for air.

"Where are your sponsors?" Glimmer wondered. "Surely they can send you something!"

"It's too expensive at this point in the game," Cato replied. "There's only one way for me to live on."

Glimmer stepped back for a moment, thinking Cato was going to slash her too. But Cato had no intention of killing her, instead he had something much deeper in mind.

"Would you… bear my child?"


	4. The Victor

Chapter 4

The Victor

Clove lay there, with blood flowing out of her knees. It was utter torture for her, lying in a pool of blood, well on her way to bleeding to death, while she watched Glimmer and Cato have passionate sex, only a few feet away from her. She was stunned as she watched Cato regain his strength just long enough to fornicate with Glimmer in the field.

"Cato!" she screamed. "You traitor! I'm from your district! You should have chosen me!"

Cato ignored her. "Oh, Glimmer, oh…"

Clove couldn't take it anymore. Even with her body a mangled mess, and with no chance of surviving, she still had some spunk left in her. So she did everything she could to budge her body over several feet. She got closer and closer to the couple, then she reached for Cato's sword.

"Glimmer, look out!" Cato cried.

Glimmer rolled to the side as Clove grabbed Cato's sword. Cato also grabbed the sword at the same moment, and the two dying children wrestled for the sword. Glimmer did not know what to do; she simply watched the battle.

"Get out of here, Glimmer, let us both die!" Cato yelled.

"No way!" Clove screamed. "I want to kill her and you! Then there will be no victor!"

As Glimmer watched Clove get control of the sword in one of her bleeding hands, she scrambled away from the area. Clove then jabbed the sword into Cato's side, opening up another large wound in his body.

"I hope you're happy now," Cato told Clove. "I killed you, and now you've killed me."

"We're even," Clove stated.

"It didn't matter," Cato replied. "I've been dead a long time. And so have you."

"It could have been us!" Clove screamed, in her dying breaths. "It could have been me and you, not you and her! We could have been legends – we could have been victors! But you sold me out – you sold me out!"

"I guess we both deserve this," Cato responded, also just about to die. "This is how it ends."

"Loser," Clove said.

Then both of the children had no more energy to expend, and both of them died. As Glimmer watched from a distance, she saw them both stop moving, and then two cannons went off.

"Who's left?" she wondered aloud.

Suddenly she watched as the sky began to get darker. She then heard a loud roar.

"What's that?" she wondered.

"That's the finale," came an answer.

Glimmer looked over to see the girl from 5, the only remaining tribute besides her. Of all people to advance this far, it was the fox-faced girl who hadn't harmed a single person!

"Are you going to kill me?" the girl asked Glimmer. "Or are you going to let me starve to death?"

"Well, of course I'm going to kill you!" Glimmer replied.

Suddenly Glimmer stopped to think about what the fox-faced girl had to say. The girl had no intention of killing or even harming Glimmer. She was ready to die. She had accomplished her goal – to make it as far as she could without killing a single person. Now she was ready to die.

"Perhaps you deserve this victory more than me," Glimmer stated.

Suddenly out of nowhere, large mutts appeared and began chasing the girls. Both girls climbed on top of the Cornucopia. Each stood on one side of the horn of plenty, watching as the mutts tried fruitlessly to climb its walls.

"How much have you eaten since you've been out here?" Glimmer asked. "You look emaciated."

"I've only had whatever I was able to steal from you guys," the girl replied. "I saw some nightlock berries – I was ready to kill myself, but I decided to stick it out as long as I could."

"And now you're depending on me to kill you?" Glimmer wondered.

"There's no one else left," the girl stated.

Glimmer looked over in the fields to see the hovercraft picking up Cato and Clove's bodies. There was the ultimate epitome of selfishness – the girl Clove, who stopped at nothing to kill whoever she could. Then there was the boy of turmoil – Cato, who had, in his dying moments, shown one moment of compassion and then passion for her. And it was at that moment that Glimmer realized that the fox-faced girl did not deserve to die – not anymore than she did.

She looked over at the fox-faced girl, then came up with an idea.

"Come on," she told her. "We're going down together."

She wrapped one arm around the girl.

"On 3, we jump into the mutts' mouths, and we die together," Glimmer stated.

"No, you should win," the girl replied.

"You have no choice!" Glimmer shouted. "One! Two! Three!"

Suddenly the girls heard a loud voice shout out to them.

"Stop! Stop!"

It was the voice of the Hunger Games announcer Claudius Templesmith.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the victors of the 74th Hunger Games."

Glimmer and the fox-faced girl looked at each other in utter shock, then they hugged each other in triumph.


	5. The Aftermath

Chapter 5

The Aftermath

**(A/N: Yes, it's quite short, but I want to make it clear that this story is not over by any means!)**

President Snow was, to no one's surprise, very angry about what had happened. His anger did not begin with Glimmer saving Foxface. No, he had become angry from the very moment he saw a love triangle form within the trio of Glimmer, Cato and Clove. Such camaraderie between tributes killed the purpose of the Hunger Games. If any more of this continued, instead of having 24 children kill each other, there would be 12 couples having sex in the fields.

So when he went to crown Glimmer, he stared the beautiful blonde in the eyes with a death glare. Glimmer had no intention of starting any sort of uprisings or a rebellion. She was simply a girl who had fallen in love, and one who had gained some sort of life with Cato's kiss. She nearly gave away that life in an attempt to save Foxface, but in the end, both had survived.

"Congratulations," Snow told her, barely holding in his annoyance. "Your district must be very proud of you."

"We expect to win," Glimmer replied. "That's the way it goes in District 1."

"But why, must I ask, did you bring along this one?"

He pointed to Foxface, who shivered as he looked at her.

"She would have made a better victor than I."

The president shook his head.

"Such selflessness… not the type of attribute I expect to see in a victor."

* * *

In the following months, Glimmer and Foxface were paired together in celebrations in each district. When they came to District 12, Haymitch could only shake his head, knowing that he had failed yet another two tributes. As for the scene in District 2, Clove's family was furious at Glimmer, and they had to be restrained from attacking her. Cato's family, on the other hand, had only one question for her:

"Are you pregnant?"

Glimmer only smiled at that answer, not wanting to give it away. Because, yes, she was pregnant, and not with one but two babies who belonged to Cato. Two children who would never see their father, two grandchildren who would grow up away from their grandparents.

Foxface was simply happy to be alive, as she stayed out of the spotlight as much as possible. She was so invisible that it was almost as if only one tribute had won, anyway.

Yet it did not matter to the Capitol, where they feared even the smallest uprising. After all that had gone on in the 74th Hunger Games, something would have to be done. Perhaps the Quarter Quell would fix everything…

* * *

The months went by, and as Glimmer went further into her pregnancy, it was time for the announcement of the Quarter Quell. Glimmer gave little care to it. All she cared about was making sure she had a healthy pregnancy – she figured there were lots of other District 1 victors who could do the mentoring.

And that was when it was announced: "For the 75th Hunger Games and 3rd Quarter Quell, the tributes will be chosen from all past victors who are still alive. And make up for the fact that District 12 has no previous female victor, we will replace that spot with a 3rd member of District 1, a female, the defending champion of the Hunger Games – Glimmer."

Every single emotion known to humankind hit Glimmer all at once. She was going into the Arena again. As a mother.


	6. The Children

**Chapter 6**

**The Children**

With the Quarter Quell rapidly approaching, it was time for Glimmer to give birth. And she did, to a healthy boy and girl. Without hesitation, she named the twins Cato and Clove.

"But why Clove?" her mother asked. "Why name the girl after the one who tried to kill you?"

"Clove was like Cato's little sister out there," Glimmer replied. "I think it's only fair to remember them in this way."

It had been a rough time after the victors' tour. Not only did Glimmer and Foxface find out that they would have to return to the Hunger Games, their families were under constant watch by the Capitol. President Snow had plans on killing their families as soon as both of them were killed in the Quarter Quell.

But at least they were still alive. Shortly after the victors visited District 2, Snow had Cato's family killed. He was furious that Cato had the nerve to interrupt his Games for a romance with Glimmer. And the fact that a loser in the Hunger Games would actually have offspring? That was too much for Snow to take.

Thus the reapings began, but Glimmer was given an "automatic bid" to the Quarter Quell, so she was not eligible for reaping. Instead, Glimmer watched in horror as her mentors Gloss and Cashmere were reaped by District 1.

There was no way she could defeat both her mentors. Nor could she see herself defeating some of these other victors she saw being reaped – such as the girl from District 7, Johanna Mason. Johanna was a girl strong with an axe, who knew how to play others to go further. She was the perfect survivor.

So Glimmer had her parents take care of her children as she prepared for this unusual Hunger Games. Surely she had no chance at winning twice in a row, did she? And what would be the first thing she would do when seeing Foxface again? The girl she had saved had cost her so much. Perhaps Foxface would be the first she'd kill.

_No, I can't do that,_ she thought. _That would be playing into the Capitol's hands. I'm going to make an alliance with her – and we'll do it again._

Why was she suddenly so rebellious against the Capitol? She couldn't figure it out. Something inside her made her want to defeat them. What was it?

Then she realized exactly what – or who – it was.

_Cato._

Every day she longed for Cato to return, for him to miraculously come back to life, for him to come walking through her door in the Victors' Village. But of course to wish for such was pure foolishness – she would never see him again. The boy who had not only confessed his love for her, not only given his body to her, but saved her from Clove's rage.

_Cato and Clove will live on after I'm gone,_ she thought. _And I can only hope Cato finds his true love this time._

But when it came time for the training inside the Capitol, Glimmer felt a strange vibe. Something was up. She couldn't tell what it was. The atmosphere was so different from her first Hunger Games, when everyone simply wanted to kill. This time, there was something bigger at stake.

She noticed Johanna Mason, who was completely naked, and offered her a brief "hi."

"What do you want, brainless?" Johanna replied. "I guess your love affair didn't work out all that well, didn't it?"

"Excuse me?" Glimmer responded.

"You heard me, you thought you could show off in front of everyone by having sex in the middle of the Hunger Games. Didn't pay off too well, did it?"

"I love Cato."

"You _loved_ him. But he's gone now, isn't he?"

"What's the point of bringing this up?"

Johanna sighed. "There's no one left I love."

Those words echoed in Glimmer's mind as it came time for the interview with Caesar Flickerman.

"So, tell me, Glimmer, how do you plan on repeating as victor?"

"I really don't know," Glimmer replied. "I'm not sure I _can_ win again."

"And why not?"

"Because… _he_'s not here."

"He?"

"Cato. My one true love."

Caesar paused as the crowd let out a sigh of sympathy.

"That is a true shame. How are the children doing?"

"Very fine, Caesar. I named them Cato and Clove."

"You mean to tell me you named your children after both District 2 tributes from last year?"

"Yes… in memory of both of them."

The crowd let out a huge sigh again.

"For your children's sake, and for your sake, I wish you the best of luck."

And as the interviews finished, all 24 tributes grabbed each other's arms and raised them high in the air, to a thunderous ovation.

But that was in the Capitol. As Glimmer rose to her spot in the arena, she noticed that the others were ready to kill – including her former mentors Gloss and Cashmere.

And with the gong, it all began again.


End file.
